She was first an icon of the perfect housewife, then the icon of what women didn’t want to be.
“Ward, I’m worried about these proto-feminist stereotypes and unrealistic expectations.” Via
Barbara Billingsley passed away this week, and with her goes an era. As the erstwhile June Cleaver, she baked in heels, vacuumed in her pearls, and very quickly became the image of the stifled housewife during the feminist revolution. You’ll find tee shirts emblazoned with her picture, struck out with a red circle and centered next to a slogan reading “I AM NOT JUNE CLEAVER, SO GET OVER IT!” Then there’s the book entitled “I Killed June Cleaver.” Although a slew of Eisenhower- era shows presented an idealized version of life in the white suburbs, poor June and her sensible girdle catches the flack of any and all women- directed wrongs.
The irony here is that June Cleaver was portrayed by… a woman who worked outside the home for a living. Billingsley herself was a fine actress, often demanding more complex scripts from Leave it to Beaver staff writers and coaching her TV son, Jerry Mathers. The pearls were her idea and so were the pumps: She didn’t want to appear short around her rapidly growing TV sons. After her run as June Cleaver was over, Billingsley continued to wear the pearls as a personal stamp.
Shatner- like, Billingsley maintained a sense of humor about her role as a cultural icon. As such, one of her roles from the 1970′s is a current Internet favorite– as an airline passenger “who speaks jive.” (And yes, the pearls were present.) The great cavalcade of ’80′s babies probably remember her best as the voice of Nanny on Muppet Babies– and even then, she wasn’t messing around with the footwear. Nanny was only recognizable via her purple shoes and striped socks. In any case, she made her presence known.
RIP Barbara Billingsley, who was a modern old lady about forty years before Betty White made being a modern old lady cool.
